Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (born 25 August 1934) was President of Iran from 1989 to 1997 (succeeding Ali Khamenei and preceding Mohammad Khatami) and was Chairman of the Iranian Parliament from 1980 to 1989.

Biography
Rafsanjani was born in Bahreman near Rafsanjan in Kerman Province, Iran, to a family of pistachio farmers. He studied theology in Qom alongside Ayatollah Khomeini, and became great friends with the Ayatollah, who made him the Chairman of the Iranian Parliament in 1980. He became the de facto commander of the Iranian Army, and in 1989 became President.

Rafsanjani supported a free market and de-escalation of conflict with the United States, and agreed with the privatization of business. In 1989 he lost elections for a third term, and he did so again in 2005.